Beautiful gowns, limousines, the red carpet! It’s the Academy Awards – the night the acting community comes together to support their peers. Maybe not this year, though, as several Black actors and directors are encouraging a boycott of the ceremonies due to no major nominations for people of color. Last week two prominent African-Americans from the acting community chose the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to announce a boycott of this year’s Academy Awards over a lack of diversity among the nominees. Jada Pinkett Smith whose husband, Will Smith, was expected to be nominated for “Concussion” but wasn’t, and director Spike Lee are boycotting this year’s ceremony and encouraging others to do so as well. Lee put this out on Instagram: “Forty white actors in two years and no flava at all. We can’t act?! WT#” Then there’s the other side as Academy Award-nominated actress Charlotte Rampling entered the debate over a lack of diversity at the Oscars by saying the calls for a boycott are “racist to white people.” Rampling is quoted as saying on Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, that sometimes “maybe black actors didn’t deserve to be in the final stretch.” President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, issued the following statement: “This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes. The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership and conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond.”

What does this situation show us? I think it is that perceptions are everything and we are still more divided by race than together.

Deidre and I write about the importance of perceptions to the racial divide in several chapters of our book. In our effort to get out our message on coming together as people – God’s children, not races – we are reminded how important it is to teach our children early on that we are “more alike than different,” and what lies inside a person is much more important than what is visible on the outside. Please help us communicate this message to as many people as you can through not only your words, but also your example.

Sue – Voice II

Perception is everything just as much as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  People classify “the best” or their favorite based on their own personal tastes. If a majority or all of the Academy Board are white males over 50, I believe their selections will naturally reflect their gender, age, and personal preferences.

I plan to, but I have not watched Concussion with black actor, Will Smith. On the other hand,  I have no desire to watch,  The Martian starring the white actor and Oscar nominee, Matt Damon, simply because Science Fiction movies, including Star Wars, usually  do not interest me. This is because my initial and first preference in shows and movies will be to see dramas, comedies, faces, situations, and places that I can relate to the best. However, I have seen, and I still love the movie Good Will Hunting after Sue told me how good the movie was. Sue’s opinion is important to me and therefore made me see a movie I would not have otherwise viewed on my own. I am still waiting for her to see another classic favorite of mine entitled, Love and Basketball starring Sanna Lathan and Omar Epps.The Academy has finally realized that diversity can be best given and best selected when the basis of the selection process includes a wide variety of all ethnic and gender groups.Once again, that old adage still rings true but must be applied without fail, “Together we will stand because divided we have already failed.”

Question: Must We Repeat History? (Chapter- VIII ; One God, Two Voices)

Deidre- Voice I

On this day set aside by all fifty states to remember and honor Dr. Martin L., King, Jr., I think this picture that I found on my FB feed embodies what he worked towards. It is also what Deidre and I hope is an outcome of our book and speaking engagements. We are indeed more alike than different and you can’t judge a book by its cover.
The division that has come between the races today is not what Dr. King would have wanted. Let’s work to make it better. Think about it people!

Sue – Voice II

Are you one to make resolutions when the calendar page says January 1? Let’s see – lose weight, eat healthier, finish that degree, or carve more family time into your schedule. Those all sound like good choices, don’t they; but what would you add?

Teachers, I wish for you more meaningful time with your students in 2016, where the “light bulb” of understanding flashes on before your eyes. Parents, I am hoping for more face time with your children without the distraction of your cell phone interrupting the personal exchange. Students, I yearn for you to learn about priorities as you move through middle and high school. As Deidre and I wrote in Ch. 4 of our book (Teacher to Student), some opportunities will only be offered once, so take advantage of them now. Your social media is not as important as focusing on things that will affect your future!

Happy New Year to you all! May the Christ of the Bible become more real to you in this year as we draw nearer to His return.

Sue – Voice II

My pastor, Bishop Vaughn McLaughlin, preached a powerful message on New Year’s Eve entitled, “The Lord Will Help Us In 2016.” I will not even begin to paraphrase or summarize his message because I would not do it justice. However, what I personally gleaned from his message and would like to pass on to our readers is this: 2016 may not be better than 2015. In fact, with global catastrophic weather conditions, a seemingly uncontrollable world enemy called ISIS/ISIL and growing racial discord that is ready to further explode at any moment, 2016 will probably be worse than last year. As Christians, we have to brace ourselves for the worst as we continue to praise God for bringing us through every trial up to this point. In times like these, we must know without any doubt, that God is truly on our side.

Trials come to help us change and grow more into the image of Christ. Transformation can only take place when we become willing vessels by yielding to the plan of God for our lives. Repentance can take place when we begin to ask God to forgive us by admitting all of our faults, and humbly asking Him for help. We must constantly know just how much we really need God in our lives on a daily basis by seeking out His direction for how we need to move forward in life.

You can start by thinking about this:  “If it had not been for the Lord who was on our (my) side…, truly, where would we (I) be?”  (Psalm 124:1-8, KJV)

Deidre- Voice I

Hello Readers!
Knowing you are probably as busy as we are in these last two weeks before Christmas, we want to forego writing our blog and instead take this opportunity to wish you all a blessed holiday season. In this Holy time of the year, we encourage you to keep in mind the “reason for the season,” and suggest sharing Him with family and friends through activities such as reading the first Christmas story in Luke 1-2, letting children draw birthday cards, letters, or pictures for Jesus, or baking a birthday cake for the Christ-child.
We will be back after the new year and look forward to hearing from you in 2016.
Deidre and Sue

The horrifying events in San Bernardino recently have stirred up more than one controversy. However, the headlines of the New York Daily News last week just added to the turmoil. Pictured below, some people felt the front page was totally out-of-line while others echoed acceptance.

I know more than one person is questioning “WHY” this awful event happened, and feeling that prayers from politicians and others are getting us nowhere. It reminded me of a 2008 interview on CBS’s Morning Show when Jane Clayson asked Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, “If God is good, how could He let this happen,” referring to the destruction of the World Trade Towers in 2001.  She calmly replied, “I say God is also angry when he sees something like this. For years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government, and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has just quietly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone. We need to make up our mind – do we want God or do we not want Him. We cannot just ask Him in when disaster strikes.”

What do you think? Have we invited the negative events that have continued to happen in this country by neglecting to acknowledge God and follow His word as we live our lives, or are terrorist attacks, crumbling stock markets, and all manner of evil occurrences that we hear about on the news simply random happenings? How many of you are old enough to “remember when” and wish for the “good old days?”

My prayers remain with the grieving families who will have no joy in this time of holiday celebrations because innocent loved ones were taken too soon.

Sue – Voice II

I echo Sue as my prayers remain with families who have lost loved ones this entire year due to the hateful acts of others. This type of tragedy that occurred in San Bernardino is most difficult because the totally innocent have died at the hands of heinous terrorists and diabolical criminals. I have to also agree with Anne Graham Lotz regarding her comments about how we have neglected God as a nation. We simply cannot pick and choose when we will include God or even mention His name as an answer to the current dilemma or situation. It is absurd for a finite man to think he can remove and replace God in a kept place just as he would a box of cereal. God truly does hurt in the face of tragedy because He knows, cares and understands our pain. He already fixed it once and for all when He (the innocent) came and died for our (the guilty) sins. As His disciples, we have been given the power to overcome fear through our faith, prayer, evangelism, and also by taking a united and bold stand for our beliefs. We must witness to a lost and dying world until all whom we contact and connect with are transformed into to “HIS IMAGE.” The proverbial, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me,” still rings true today. It can only be the God in me – the God in each of us that will bring about authentic and necessary changes.

Deidre Hester, Voice I